It all kicked off in the swimming pool

[Poppystone]

Session times have changed because of the school holidays. There's no lane swimming during the day, only general swimming, which is making the early morning and evening swimming very busy.

My friend is a big man, well over six ft (ie takes up a lot of space) and a very good swimmer. He's gone into the fast lane and done his thing. There were two women also there swimming much too slowly for the fast lane. The target times for a length are published, so fast is not subjective, although they didn't appear to be aware of this.

Anyway they've objected and said they think he's very rude to be ploughing up and down. He thinks that's what the fast lane's for....

Our council pool reduces the lanes in the summer so half the pool for general use but still 2 lanes for swimming.

Women were wrong and should have moved to slow lane. But if literally no space in the slow lane I dont know what they could have done differently i would not expect them to leave. Or sit at side of the pool for a turn of the slow lane. Sounds like everyone has to be more patient during the reduced swimming.

He doesn't get to physically intimidate and make contact with women, even if they are in the wrong lane.
If yours in the wrong lane in your bicycle, I can't just mow you down with my car

Gosh if only he could have used his big boy words either speaking directly to the women or the life guard but no much better to show those silly women with his physical size and force 🙄

They were in the wrong lane for sure but there was no need for a “kick off” your friend is a bit of a dick.

Last week there was a man who couldn’t swim in the slow lane on his back using a noodle and splashing around middle of the lane so no one could pass. Some woman used her words and pointed out he needed to stay to the side and swim clockwise and you know what he apologised explained he was just starting to learn to swim and he did as asked and all was well with the world.

I get rage at women swimming slowly alongside each other, hair completely dry, chatting. I know I’m being unreasonable. Get stroke lessons, learn to put your face in the water and breathe, go single file. I’m team Big Man 💪

If sessions are busier than normal, it could well be that the next lane down was full with even slower swimmers. So, yes, you can have printed times, but if there’s full capacity in that 45second lane, and less in the 30 second lane, then the 40 second swimmers have no choice but to move up.

Sounds like the man chose to just ignore how busy the pool was and plough his way through anyone who was already in "his" space.
Obviously the women should have been in the slower lane, but theres no excuse to barge past someone who is in your way.
UNLESS it was just too busy for everyone trying to use it...common sense suggests leaving one person in the fast lane and 50 people to share a slower lane is ridiculous.

I can’t believe the number of posters rushing to defend this appalling man!
He was completely unreasonable.

He used his size and maleness to effectively push these women out of his way. Unless they swim at a national competitive level, most ordinary women will not swim as fast as a man. Basic biology.

He should have been more courteous and adapted his swimming for the summer period.

’I suspect there was contact. Not deliberately aggressive, but not taking too much care to avoid them, possibly out of frustration’!

This makes him totally in the wrong. They were in the wrong lane so he should have spoken with the lifeguard. He chose to get physical instead, so he was right to leave!

Ugh, I used to swim at a place and the same two women every morning plodded up and down slowly, chatting the whole time. There were some lanes but they were in the general part.
They swum a wide arm's length away so the two of them took up about three lane's worth of space. And they didn't even stay in the same place, they drifted across the whole width of the pool!
So infuriating!
Occasionally I'd swim in the fast lane as it was often empty. I'm quite fast but not olympic levels :)
As it was a university pool, students would often get in and fly up and down at huge speeds, not caring for who was there. And it was both young men and young women who did that.

I agree. Most disappointing!

Still , I suppose 'someone grumped at my friend in the pool' doesn't make for an enriching title...

Did the women at any point say why they didn't just move over into the slower lane?

If there are actually speeds stated, then everyone should be in the correct lane.

But, even if everyone is in the correct lane, and particulary if the lanes are crowded, there is always going to be someone that is fastest and someone that is slowest. It's everyone's responsibility to be mindful of other people in the lane (overtaking sensibly, moving into gaps where possible, letting faster swimmers go past). It doesn't sound as though OP's friend had any thought for anyone other than himself.

So everyone is BU.

Isn’t there often a ‘general’ area, for those who like to potter around or stand about nattering, with just one or two lanes roped off for anyone wanting to do lengths? One usually labelled ‘fast’.

I go swimming every day and there are a few men who seem to think they are entitled to do what they want. They are big, alpha guys, and if one appears, everyone else moves out to give them the lane. I am never in the fast lane but I see them - their biggest impact on me is the huge spray they create as they bomb through the water.

I think it's interesting that most people on this thread agree that the big man is in the right. It's a shared space - men are always going to dominate. Maybe this guy needs to be more aware. But as a big guy, I'm sure he's used to getting his way and he would indeed be incensed to find any lesser creature in his path.

’I suspect there was contact. Not deliberately aggressive, but not taking too much care to avoid them, possibly out of frustration’

This is why we need more women’s sessions in pools. Not deliberately aggressive, what a low bar.

(& yes, the women were in the wrong, not the point.)

I swim at 17 seconds per 25m going at a steady speed. That is absolutely standard club swimming speed and a world apart from public swimming speed. I’m sure that’s the same for any sport the huge disparity.

if the lane is busy, I will alter my training session to fit with others in the lane. So for example, instead of a straight 800m warmup I might swim a combination of legs only/drills/25m sprints/whatever so that I consider others in the lane.

men in general do not do this. ‘I want to swim 1km at 25m in 25 seconds on my strava watch and sod anyone else who gets in my way.’

it sounds very much like your friend is the latter.

I would 100 times over rather swim in the lane with the too slow ladies rather than an arrogant man who uses his body to intimidate women.

They should move down a lane, but he was still rude. We don’t even know if they had a few laps to realize that sharing the current lane with him wasn’t ideal.

I’ve witnessed this type of swimmer so many times. They just barrel through people. They take advantage of their physical size and strength to be bullies in the pool.

It’s the comment OP made about how there might possibly have been physical contact. It shows he wasn’t bothering to pay attention to other people. These swimmers might have been categorically too slow, but it just as easily could have been someone just slightly slower than him.

When I used to lane swim, if there were persistent(slow) offenders in the wrong (fast) lane we used to grab an ankle pull them under and swim over the top of them. Was quite affective .

Perhaps he did the toe tapping advocated in another swimming thread.

I'm a slow lane swimmer. I am well aware I'm not entitled to be anywhere else, but I do swim "properly". The ones who seem to be there just for a chat frustrate me too.

”a royal rumble” I haven’t heard that in years! Brilliant!

I've asked other swimmers to consider moving up or down a lane before if they are swimming much slower or much faster than the average speed in why didn't he just ask them? They don't always agree, but usually they do because it makes everyone's swim more enjoyable if everyone in the lane is swimming at similar speeds.

I hate being in a lane with slower swimmers, but barging up and down isn't really the answer, despite them being in the wrong.

I lane swim, as well as early swims my place does late opening & it's usually near empty, perfect, as not many want a 10pm swim. I've used that slot a decade & love it.

For ours though is a daytime slot that I stumbled on on days off that's even quieter, I've been on my own for several sessions for 30 mins of it which is fab.

It's an old fashioned 1976 pool with almost no updates & having a hot shower is a lottery, so I guess lots of people prefer to go elsewhere as its pretty crap.

However I do still see & v occasionally part of some slow swimmer/fast swimmer kick off.

I'm surprised 6 ft man is considered big? I'm bigger & don't think I'm big. 6ft 8 or so is big.

But anyway to address your point. No its not automatic that women are slower, I'm a fast experienced middle-aged male swimmer, often I'm murdered by younger women, sure they are probably ex competition swimmers but they are rapid. Were 3 of them a couple of wks ago, I slunk off to the medium lane as I was just a roadblock for them.

Last wk was a lady tho approx my age who was comfortably faster than me, we chatted after & we are only a year apart in age so very comparable, she's not an ex competition swimmer, but a recent convert to long distance open water swimming who swims 3 times a wk minimum.

Was a lady posted above who is 17 sec/ 25m, I'm not that fast. Well in a 2 length sprint yes of course, but not for the hour I swim for so, thus she'd murder me, she maybe much younger tho as per the younger ladies I see who are super rapid.

we had a problem with a man disrupting our swimming lessons. There vwas no lane swimming and parts designated for us. Bur he had to do his lengths so he churned up through the children, so we had to pause and move aside every so often. Lifeguard did nothing. I thought he would be glad when we left, but the boys reported he was parading round the changing area unclothed. We had no male teacher to go in there and there was no staff at the time. My superior wouldn't let me report him. That was maybe 39 years back and i still recall my anger at his behaviour.

What physical contact are we talking about?

Hand to foot contact - excusable I think, it can be very very difficult to see people ahead of you if they're doing a semi upright breast stroke slowly down the lane and you're doing a front crawl (impossible if backstroke though I think thats antisocial if theres anyone else in the lane) or butterfly...

If he has swam right over the top of someone then no, that's not OK, that is avoidable and if he's done that, it was deliberate.

I prefer swimming outdoors which avoids this shit, I am a slow lane swimmer but I do like to get on with it and not bob about in the way!